Narcissus ‘Jetfire’

Narcissus ‘Jack Snipe’ in front of a clump of the most popular narcissus in the world: Tete-a-Tete. To right (not flowering): Prostanthera cuneata and, to left, the marbled foliage of Cyclamen hederifolium.

A nice, plain green-leafed form of Daphne odora.

Daphne odora ‘Alba’ – a nice break from the typical pink type.

Helleborus x hybridus – I got this double form about five years ago – it’s still my favorite, even with all the new splendid hybrids that are now available.

The last of my little purple Crocus tommasinianus – probably Whitewell Purple.

This Algerian iris (Iris unguicularis) has been flowering all winter. The flowers are great in a tiny vase – they last best if you tug them up instead of cutting them. The fragrance is sweet and powdery, very evocative… perhaps of an Algerian hillside in winter.

This is the best dark red flowering quince I’ve seen yet, with large, silky, cupped flowers that are the color of blood. Here’s a bee’s view, from above. Notice the handsome evergreen growing below it?

A close-up of the handsome evergreen plant I grow beneath the blood-red flowering quince… it’s a type of creeping, evergreen currant from China. Collected by Daniel J. Hinkley in China, it goes by the name of Ribes aff wilsonii DJHC 777 because it is a Ribes with an affinity (similarity) to R. wilsonii (doesn’t seem to be anything else) and it was a Daniel J. Hinkley Collection #777 (a busy collecting trip for Mr. Hinkley!). That’s just for anyone who might have wondered why the plant has such a silly-sounding name. Okay, best part is… if you really squint and make this picture as big as possible on your screen, you can see the microscopic green, red-rimmed flowers that I have fastidiously matched to the blood-red flowering quince towering above it. See? Those microscopic flowers qualify this totally nerdy plant for Bloom Day! Woo-hoo!